i've actually got a couple more questions
1) did your friends and family support you in your potato salad endeavors?
2) how does it feel to have one of those funny little ideas you get in your head completely blow up on the internet to the point where people recognize the phrase "Potato salad guy"?
3) How would you list something like the potato salad kickstarter thing on a resume?
edit: added another question

1.) Yep! They were all very supportive. Though, I could tell that it was putting a lot of stress on friends and family. There wasn't a LOT of trolling going on, but my friends would read every negative comment / article and get upset about it. My mom got in a (verbal) fight with someone at work because he said something like "have you heard of this idiot on the internet that raised a ton of money for potato salad?" So, TL;DR, they were super supportive, but you should never read the comments on the internet.

I just wanted to let you know that I'm a current student at your alma mater, and am originally from Minnesota, where that news video is from. So we're basically soul twins. Also, can you please deliver me some delicious potato salad so I don't have to eat shitty dining hall food tonight?

Yes! We had 1500 attendees, which was on the low end of what I was hoping. In 9 hours, we distributed all 450lbs of potato salad! In the first hour, we sold out of our festival t-shirt (300 t-shirts, $10 from each went to the Columbus Foundation). We raised $18,000 from sponsorship alone!

We had cooking demonstrations for kids. The local, independent radio station had DJs doing stage announcements. We had 6 awesome local bands play. It felt like everyone in attendance was really happy to be there celebrating something so silly.

TL;DR: It was a huge success and I was really happy to be a part of it!

I agree. We wanted to make a shirt for backers and a shirt for the event. The event shirt ended up being better than the backer shirt. If I had it to do over, I would have given backers the option to choose. On the bright side, backers will be getting a limited-edition Homage t-shirt that will never be sold in stores.

I think it is awesome that you donated a lot of the money to charity, and from the article raised even more at the festival... but lets get real... did you buy anything for yourself besides potato salad? You had to reward yourself with something?

You are living the dream my man, I've been wanting to quit my 8-5 for the last couple years to do the same thing. It's hard to pursue outside of your local area with a full time job... I hope you thank the potato salad Gods for the opportunity every day!

After this started getting popular I went to try to buy the Domain name PotatoSalad.com in hopes of creating a neat website with/for you in my spare time, and document this historic event. They told me the current price PotatoSalad.com was 40k. My dreams were shattered.

I am a HUGE fan of your band and cannot believe I am talking to your right now!!! What was the inspiration behind your song “Chicken Fried”? I love that song so much that my wife and I chose your song for our first dance at our wedding.

When I'm writing a song, I'm always discovering new things about myself and the world. Before sitting down to work on 'Chicken Fried' I knew that I liked fried chicken, jeans that fit just right, the radio, the touch of a precious child and the look of love in my woman's eyes, but I didn't understand how to put it all together.

I don't have a preferred brand, but I've started using those wet wipes recently and it has changed my life. I realized when I was at Bonnaroo this summer that my butt is always at its freshest at outdoor music festivals. Then I realized that the only thing I was doing differently was that I was carrying around wet-wipes in my backpack (and then wiping my butt with them, obviously). So, I'm a wet-wipeman now.

Wet wipes are not made to bio-degrade quickly like TP is. Ever used wet TP? Of course not, it crumbles into mush intentionally

Flushable wipes react with chemicals in sewage to break down faster. DO NOT USE regular wet wipes (or paper towels, for that matter)! Unless, of course, you're into your house eventually smelling like sewage for a couple years.

On a serious note, what is it like now that you're well known? Are you more egotistical or more humble? Has your life changed or on the verge of changing? Do you like the attention or hate it? Are you a different person now?

Real talk? I was feeling really down that week. I didn't want to go to work and I wasn't sure what I wanted to be doing with my life so I spent 30 minutes making this stupid little Kickstarter to make me and my friends laugh. I would have forgotten about it if I didn't get an email notifying me that my bank account had been verified.

Your Kickstarter lost a big chunk of money mysteriously in the campaign and there were rumors that there were large fraudulent pledges made to inflate the numbers to make the campaign go viral, encouraging others to jump on the joke bandwagon.

This chart shows how the Kickstarter lost over $20,000 in a single day all of a sudden.

We didn't and I'm not sure it would have increased the visibility if we did. The earliest of those contributions came in on Monday afternoon after the thing already had a life of its own. I can tell you that it was a huge let-down to see those pledges disappear and none of us knew what was going on.

Hah. I haven't delivered 100% yet. I will be super relieved when I do. It didn't hit me until midway through the first week that I would actually have to be fulfilling all of these promises (that were, at the time, all jokes).

Here is the recipe: One pound of potatoes, two ounces of mayonnaise, one ounce of sour cream, one ounce of Montamore cheese (or mozzarella as a substitute), one ounce of basil pesto, and then mix in the desired amount of pancetta (or bacon as a substitute) and sundried tomatoes with a splash of apple cider vinegar, black pepper and kosher salt.

I really loved Jordan O'Jordan's 'History Of The Potato' stories. Jordan is a story-telling banjo player from Ohio and he researched and wrote a special story about the potato's journey from North America to Europe and back again. It was really wonderful and was also the first time I got to sit down all day.

No, it's heart-warming! I'd love to see more internet panhandling like this with much funnier people than me. Imagine if Loius C.K. released a half-hour comedy special with donation tiers. You can stream it or download it for free, but there is a suggested donation. I'd be interested in seeing how well that works.

Three days after the project went live, I got a call from Good Morning America. That's when I realized that it was going to have some reach. We always knew that we'd have to fulfill promises, but it didn't sink in until the end of the first week that we'd be sending 1000 people a custom t-shirt.

Couple q's, 1) whats your secret recipe if anything? 2) I really like waffles. Any suggestions regarding waffles? I only ask because you seem to have a knack for turning something so simple as a potato salad into something fantastic! 3) potato prices are rapidly rising in both the US and the UK. What are your thoughts on that, and advice for making cheap, delicious potato salad? Links for articles are below. Thanks for your AMA!

One pound of potatoes, two ounces of mayonnaise, one ounce of sour cream, one ounce of Montamore cheese (or mozzarella as a substitute), one ounce of basil pesto, and then mix in the desired amount of pancetta (or bacon as a substitute) and sundried tomatoes with a splash of apple cider vinegar, black pepper and kosher salt.

"One pound of potatoes, two ounces of mayonnaise, one ounce of sour cream, one ounce of Montamore cheese (or mozzarella as a substitute), one ounce of basil pesto, and then mix in the desired amount of pancetta (or bacon as a substitute) and sundried tomatoes with a splash of apple cider vinegar, black pepper and kosher salt."

I don't have any plans to continue with potato salad. I want to write / perform jokes.

It's being used to fulfill donor rewards. Whatever is left-over is going into our non-profit fund at The Columbus Foundation to support charities working to end hunger and homelessness in Central Ohio.

Ohio State. I spend a lot of time lurking in /r/cfb. I love OSU, but I hate following them or watching them on TV. I have much more fun watching random college football games (this weekend, amirite?) and NFL. Too much anxiety having a favorite team.